Flint police eager for lockup opening Monday

To Flint police officers, getting a full-time city lockup where suspected criminals and people with outstanding warrants can be lodged, is like Christmas come early.

"It's definitely a benefit," said a veteran patrol officer . "We're really looking forward to having it open."

But to others in the criminal justice system, putting people into the Flint lockup means more people also will be heading into the Genesee County Jail, where officials have been battling to prevent overcrowding for years.

"I've got 580 spaces in the (county) jail and that's all," said Sheriff Robert J. Pickell. "I've said it before, but it's still the case that if someone comes in the front door, then that means someone has to be going out the back door."

"There's no question about it," said Jon Care, coordinator for the Genesee County Board of Commissions and for county criminal justice issues. "We expect an impact, that it will put more pressure on the system."

Chief Genesee Circuit Judge Archie Hayman agreed.

"We've been meeting to try to lessen the impact on the available jail space, but there's no way that if couldn't have an impact," he said. "Yes, we want the city police to be able to deter crime with the threat of locking up lawbreakers, but it just makes sense that we're going to have to find a way to use our resources as effectively as we can."

Flint police have been scrambling this week to get things in place to open the renovated lockup on Monday, to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with a newly-hired staff.

"We've been working with the courts, the sheriff, everyone involved ironing out the problems and we are shooting for Monday," Acting Police Chief Gary Hagler said about the lockup's opening. "It's going to be a learning process."

He stressed that the city needs a lockup to demonstrate to those who break the law in Flint that they will be locked up, if only until they are arraigned.

"This is an issue that has to be addressed," Hagler said.

The city closed the old lockup in 1981, re-opening it for a brief period under former mayor Woodrow Stanley during an election year. But other than that, the lockup has only been open periodically during weekend or overnight hours, usually as part of specific police sweeps and enforcement efforts.

In February, Mayor Don Williamson announced the lockup would be reopened full-time, after a weekend in which there were four homicides in the city.

Because the county jail is constantly on the verge of being overcrowded, there often isn't space available for allow local police to book suspects into the jail except for very serious crimes. Thousands of warrants for the arrest of suspects wanted in crimes committed in the Flint area are outstanding, yet because there is no space to hold them, those people at large.

With a city lockup, authorities would be able to hold a suspect for 72 hours, though, by local practice, that suspect is usually formally charged, released or bonded out of jail before that time elapses.

"If we arrest somebody who is a real bad guy, sometimes we can take them to another county and lodge him there," said a Flint officer. "But for a misdemeanor arrest, there's almost no way."

Pickell said he understands the frustration of the Flint police in not having space in the county jail, but said it has been constantly crowded.

"Today we have 630 inmates, and sometimes we've had as many as 700," he said. "That makes for dangerous conditions for inmates and for my deputies, with fights, short tempers and it results in stress, overtime and injuries."

Pickell spoke to the county board about the proposed increased use of electronic tethers for suspects by local judges earlier this week, noting that the sheriff's department has the capacity to have as many as 300 inmates at a time on tether.